Jim
was born in 1947 in the town of Pleasantville, New York. His father worked for
the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) in New York City. The
family moved to Miami in 1963 when Jim's dad took a job at WCKT-TV.
Jim's cousin was a West Point graduate and Jim was captivated by that
fact, so he enrolled in the Miami Military Academy when he was 15. Jim's
experience there was less than enjoyable. Jim graduated from high school
in 1966. At his parents urging he enrolled at the University of Florida.
Jim's roommate had a job at the college radio station, which was a
student-run 5,000-watt commercial radio station. Jim graduated with a mass
communications degree in 1971. While in college Jim married. Jim's wife got a
job in the Virgin Islands, then in San Francisco. While there Jim received
a call from a friend in Orlando, telling him there was a job for a news reporter
at WKIS-AM 740 in 1972. By 1974 Jim
had become the news director/anchor at WKIS. In 1978 Jim also
became
the news director of the Florida Radio Network. In 1985 Jim won the Greater
Orlando Press Club's award for best news event reporting. In 1986, he took over the afternoon talk program when
Dick Norman
was fired by Kay Barone,
"...because he wouldn’t pitch to Jim Philips
with his “man on the street” opinions on the news of the day". Jim has led a very interesting life. He was a
ringmaster for a traveling circus out of Alabama. He lasted about two weeks on
that job and then returned to Orlando. In 1995, Jim went to Ireland to
marry fiancé Catherine Dillard in the land of his ancestors. Catherine,
is a former producer of Philips's show. Jim can
now be heard on the very successful "Philips
Phile" on WTKS-FM
104.1 from 3 until 7p.m.. Jim
was named one of the nation's "Top 100 Talk Show Hosts" by Talkers
Magazine in 1998. Jim has also been nominated for a Marconi Award
for large market personality of the year by the National Association of
Broadcasters. You can catch commentaries from Jim,
Thursday evenings at 5:55PM. on WESH-Channel
2. Jim's
commentaries on WESH-TV ended in March of 2008.